May 2018

Photographer Meredith Bless writes: “JumpSport (maker of fitness mini-trampolines) is shooting a photo and video project in June in San Diego and is looking for models to participate. It will be fun. Needed: two men and two women, aged 45 to 65. Need to be relatively fit but do not need to be buff. This is targeted toward regular people, not professional athletes. Pay: $100 per person. Each person will be needed for roughly 4 hours.” Selected models will be provided with a fitness trampoline to borrow and asked to practice a few simple routines (provided) prior to shooting. The…

Valdis Cela is not a masters household name. Perhaps he should be after becoming the first M70 to break 8000 points in the decathlon. On Saturday and Sunday, the Latvian competed in the sixth annual Stendaler Hanse-Cup in Stendal, Germany. His 8142 (corrected from earlier 8143) blew away the listed mark of 7940 by German legend Rolf Geese, also at Stendal, in 2016. (See meet results.) A German masters blog notes that Valdis got pacing help in the 1500-meter run by Timo Ritte — son-in-law of vault god Wolfgang Ritte, who also took part in the weekend dec. (M65 Wolfgang…

London Olympic champ Jenn Suhr is sure having fun in her geezerhood. At 36, almost old enough to be a mother to some rivals, she won the Pre Classic vault Saturday with a W35 world record of 4.85 meters (15-11), upping her own listed WR of 4.83 (15-10) from a year ago. Social media didn’t seem to notice the age-group record. But WMA, bless its little heart, called attention to the mark on its coming-of-age Twitter feed. The WMA site breathlessly announced: “Thats (sic) right, breaking news coming out of Eugene at the IAAF diamond league is that Jennifer Suhr…

Anthony Famiglietti, a two-time Olympian with a mile PR of 3:55.71 (in 2006), turns 40 in five months. He’s gearing up by training hard, pitching a documentary and letting the world know he’s shooting for a sub-4. It’s a stretch. But you gotta admire the grit. See Martin Fritz Huber’s story in Outside. The former steepler’s “moonshot mile is perhaps an unusual way to confront the beast of senescence, but it makes a crazy kind of sense. When you’ve spent more than half your life constructing your identity around the fact that you can run faster than 99.99 percent of…

Nobody is safe. That’s my takeaway from an exchange of email I had Thursday with Brad Horn, a spokesman for USADA — the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. I queried him on how 59-year-old cyclist came to be sanctioned for refusing an out-of-competition drug test. I wanted to know where he was when he was solicited. (Brad doesn’t know yet.) But he said: “Ultimately, this case was the result of target testing, based on credible information received through USADA’s Play Clean Tip Line. USADA makes available a number of ways to report the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs in an effort to protect clean…

China’s Xinhua news agency reports from Nairobi that Kenya will send athletes to Málaga worlds. But something got lost in translation. “Rose Tata-Muya, Masters Athletics Kenya Secretary General, said trials will be held on July 21 and July 22 in Iten, located in the Rift Valley area which is the cradle of Kenyan athletics,” the report said. Trials? Well, maybe that’s their way of saying they’ll use a “qualifying meet” to decide who gets travel subsidies. Because, of course, it’s an all-comers meet open to anyone with the cash to enter. A further clue: “We require 20,000 U.S. dollars to…

Two months ago, I wrote about M50 thrower David Burrell in Britain, who is suspended until October 2021 for refusing a drug test, possibly at home. Now comes news that an M55 cyclist — Scott Gross of Orange Park, Florida — has accepted a 4-year suspension for refusing an out-of-competition drug test May 3. This hits close to home. So I wrote USATF national masters chair Rex Harvey whether masters tracksters could get a knock on the door. He replied: “All USATF athletes are liable for testing at any time and any place.” While conceding that MTF has no formal…

At WMA worlds in September, sprinters will be pleased to learn, Mondo is the surface of at least one track — at the University of Málaga. But that’s considered a secondary venue. The main one is the City of Málaga’s combined football (soccer) and athletics (track) stadium. Unsure which spikes are recommended for the non-Mondo stadium, but pyramid and Christmas tree spikes (specified for Mondo) may suffice for all. In any case, the 2012 and 2016 Olympics were contested on Mondo — because it’s speed friendly. (I’ve heard that distance runners have a problem with it, but oh well.) What…

Wolfgang Ritte has a thing for Wipperfuerth, Germany. Five years ago Saturday, he set an M60 WR in the vault at that ancient North Rhine-Westphalia town. Don’t look now. Wipperfuerth was the site Saturday of his M65 WR, where he made first-attempt clearances of 4.0 and 4.05 meters (13 1 1/2 and 13-3 1/2) and screamed with joy on the way down. Haven’t seen results site, but a YouTube video and my source are reliable. (He came close to 4.0 indoors in March.) So by breaking American John Altendorf’s listed WR of 3.89 (12-9), Wolfie becomes the oldest man to…

Results are posted for the Southern California Striders Meet of Champions at Santa Ana College. The top mark was by Damien Leake, who at 65 clocked a legal 12.40 in the 100 — with the listed world record being 12.33 by Bill Collins at the 2017 Penn Relays. On Saturday, Damien responded to some queries. “I am hoping to take a real shot at Bill’s WR,” he said. “I was a little surprised at how close I was this early in the season, as I am a little ‘soft’ because I’ve been doing a lot more coaching than training this…

Masters on Twitter

Athletes who are not on the top six in the World list of those eligible for performance-based support from the Team USATF Torun World #1 Program can earn support by competing at... https://t.co/de3yt9kO0I

Sign up for the USATF East Region and New England Association Masters Indoor T&F Championship being held 1/27/19 at the Providence Career and Technical Academy
Providence, Rhode Island https://t.co/MK1fO5l1XP

Job Alert! Be a Volunteer and Welcome the World ! The @wmaToronto2020 Host Committee is looking for many key volunteer leadership positions now, interested ? Check out the WMA website for info; https://t.co/RD9oye67YK #TorontoComms @TOSportsCouncil @TorontoPFR #CSCOJobList

Grateful to the Catton family for trusting me to tell their story.
Members of Guelph's running community spent today celebrating 3-year-old Benjamin Catton who's spent so much of his life in hospital. A few weeks ago, he received a kidney from his father. https://t.co/bJPDf5Ux0C

It's coming #OCC19 is now open! Join in Ontario's premier sport leadership event impacting 2.2 million youth in our province. Register by December 31 to save up to $70 off! Education is a journey, not a destination. Continue your journey at #OCC19 https://t.co/MB2ParmKY6

A meeting to discuss theOMA/AO Memorandum of Understanding will be held on Wednesday, November 21, 2018, 6:30pm at the offices of Athletics Ontario. Variety Village 370 Danforth Avenue, ScarboroughOMA Board members will be present, and all OMA members are welcome to attend.

Its Indoor Masters Exhibition Time of Year!! We are looking for Men and Women 60+ Qualifying times are 8.40 60M or lower for men and 11.30 60M or lower for Women! The event is at Ocean Breeze in Staten Island NY.
Application Link is OPEN!!... https://t.co/bqEf7YckIH

Hi T & F fam, we are sharing stories and calls for help by Masters Athletes affected by the fires in California. If you know of others with support campaigns please post here or send us a message. #mastersathletes... https://t.co/T8Sa2Niyji